On monday I got involved in a scam that the local police were putting on. During rush hour cop A and cop B decided to pull off the side of the road and get people to pass them while their lights were on and pull them over for not getting in the left lane.
Besides that cop A had his lights on and cop B positioned his car directly in front of cop A so you couldn’t see him till your almost upon him. So basically it just looks like a cop A is sitting there with his lights on for no reason at all.
Well I played along and they put the hurt on me and took my license. I felt wronged because like I said it was rush hour and I couldn’t get in the left lane because of the traffic.
I have to go to court. I chose to plead not guilty on the paper and send it in minutes after I got it. My question is, anyone think I will win this or will I get a royal screwing?
I have a sweet defense planned out and taken partly from the rules of the road but I just think it won’t really matter.
it won’t matter. unless you pay for a lawyer, which would probably be more expensive than the ■■■■ ticket. I see it like this…jerk cops give you a rediculous ticket, in which way you will be paying the ticket or paying stupid court costs. your money is going to the same place. nothing you can do about it…my minor consumption awhile back cost me 1000 and I still had community service after not taking their plea bargain.
only thing you can do is to make sure they use lubricant when they jam it in…good luck though
i know the law in several states is that you are required to a) move over a lane or b) slow down to some speed like 30mph. is it like that where you’re at, and if so, did you at least slow down?
Here are some basic preliminary steps you should take which will get you started in the right direction.
What not to do. Please do not think “I’m guilty so there is nothing I can do” and just send in the payment by mail. This is the worst thing you can do. You will be pleading guilty and paying the highest possible fine allowed by law. You can cut your fine at least in half in most cases. It’s easy to pay the lowest fine amount and save yourself hundreds of dollars.
The first thing you should always do, no matter what the facts are, is PLEAD NOT GUILTY and ask for a court date. You can do this by certified mail, going to the clerks window or going to the court room. You are innocent until proven guilty so make them prove your guilt. Don’t do it for them. There are numerous ways they can screw up and your ticket will get dismissed. Also with a little preparation and help you can win at the hearing or before. This will give you time to calmly consider your alternatives and make a better informed decision. It is also the first step in saving money on a fine.
The next thing you should do is delay the proceedings by getting as many continuances as you can. Continuances are usually fairly easy to get for things like - you’re out of town, can’t get off work or you are sick etc. Each continuance increases the chance that the officer won’t be there which will result in your ticket being dismissed. This happens 30% to 50% of the time depending on the court. I’d take those odds in Vegas any day.
Every time you go to court you should be prepared to fight your ticket in case it isn’t continued and the officer is present.
This was what I got from googlin’ traffic tickets.
Plead not guilty; That is bogus especially if you were stuck in traffic
But as I said if the cop does not show up to counter your defense there is no case…at least that is how it works in my area of New York
wait… so why did they pull you over? for not switchin lanes? :lol: if that isn’t the most amount of BS i’ve ever heard. I know you’re supposed to switch lanes but if you can’t, i’ve never heard of anyone gettin a ticket for it.
I think you should plead guilty and pay the fine though since you dedicated a chuck norris thread to me, hows that for karma! :lol::fight: :fight:
Thanks for all your help, especially rawnewdlz for looking that up for me. Here is some of the things I may have left out.
The cop did pull me over even though the left lane was blocked. In fact from what I remember a semi and one other car could also not get over and passed him before me. I did slow down to about 45 from what I recall.
He asked me when he pulled me over, why I didn’t pull to the left. I said I couldn’t and I said but I slowed. He asked for my license and insurance and then asked last time I had a ticket. I said 10 to 12 years ago which is true.
My cell phone rang and I asked if I could talk to my wife. He said I’ll be right back. He came back 5 minutes later with a ticket and preceeded to tell me blah blah blah and you have to appear in court for this, any questions. I put all my **** back together and rolled up my window and left.
I respect policemen but not when they **** with you. Those ****s should be canned in my opinion.
I went home filled out the back saying not guilty and drove it to the Post Office. No way was I going to just pay it.
I like that continuance route, I may try that several times.
BTW, while he had me pulled over I lost count after 50 cars passed us at high speed. It was rush hour after all.
Wait so he took your license and then let you drive away? I’m thinkin that some type illegal procedure by that cop :lol: I wouldn’t have been surprised if the other pulled you over and gave you a ticked for driving w/o a license and then impounded your car.
He gave me the citation to drive with. They give you two copies, one for driving and the other to plead guilty or not guilty.
I have no idea why I was an automatic court case considering I have a good record past 12 years.
He mentioned they had been pulling people over all day long for the same thing. I feel sorry for anyone else that fell for the trap. It was definitly a trap in my case.
I suppose if I had pulled to the left lane and ran someone off the road, that would have been okay. I forgot to ask him if thats was okay to do.
My wife tells me that I give people a whole different impression with my face. She said I look nasty when I’m trying to be nice. I could have been giving him that look. Something flipped him off on me, but to be honest I don’t know what.
He probably got pissed because of the cell phone ringing. Most cops that I have run into are very power-trippy and need you undivided attention to feel the love :lol:
Police officers do that becaues they want something to do, and they get paid based on how many people they pull over basically
One time my sister’s friend was driving me and my sister back home from some movie (Rent), and there’s this circle on the street I live on. I swear the police officer circled around the circle atleast 20 times (you can see the circle from a distance). So… we’re coming up to the circle, and one of the headlights goes off. The police pulls us over and says “I’ll let you off with just a warning this time.”
We’re all like WTFFFF
Oh and in Maryland at least, if you send in like 5 dollars extra worth of check than the fine, the computer processes it and it messes them up, and they send back the check and mark the fine as paid.
sorry I cant hel pat all
